Benefits for Student

The challenges that students face

Higher Education presents most students with a significant
epistemological shift in the way they approach learning. For many students this
involves leaving behind the notion that knowledge is an objective truth to be
memorised but rather a process to engage with organically. University should be a context within which
students develop and refine their own general and subject-specific interests. They will be making
important decisions about what they want to do next. Many students will also be
living independently for the first time, which presents its own set of challenges.

A more enjoyable and productive time

Personal Tutors have huge potential to make this
developmental process, both academic and pastoral, an easier and more enjoyable
time for students;it doesn't have to be something they struggle through on their own. Students come to
university because they want to learn, they
want to engage in conversation with like-minded individuals and build
relationships with experts who are actively contributing to their field. A
Personal Tutor can be a key person with whom to have some of these conversations. Personal Tutors can inspire their tutees and motivate them to try
harder at university. A Personal Tutor can build up a student's confidence by
giving them time to discuss the things that are important to them.

A source of reassurance

Having a Personal Tutor, with whom they have built up an
authentic relationship through regular contact and good communication, provides
students with a source of support and guidance. Students are reassured that
someone is there for them who genuinely cares about their progress at
university and who they trust values them as an individual in what can be a large, impersonal institution. When they feel valued, they are more likely to
come to their Personal Tutor for support and therefore it is less likely that
any difficulties they do encounter will reach crisis point.